Sam Cade Transcript
Jessie Sheehan:
Hi, peeps. You are listening to She's My Cherry Pie, the baking podcast from The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. I'm your host, Jessie Sheehan. I'm a baker, recipe developer, and author of three baking books, including my latest, “Snackable Bakes.” Each Saturday, I'm hanging out with the sweetest bakers around and taking a deep dive into their signature bakes.
Today's guest is Sam Cade, the Dallas cake artist and baker of Cades Cakes. Who you might know from the Netflix series “Is It Cake?” Sam specializes in a very niche category, realistic cakes, and she turns out everything from hamburgers to sneakers to handbags. She's made Cherry Bombe a few cakes over the years, and they truly blew our minds. They also taste as good as they look. Sam and I talk about how she got her start, her time at Milk Bar, just how she makes these mind-blowing cakes, and what inspired the “Is It Cake?” phenomenon. Stay tuned for my chat with Sam.
Thank you to Plugrà Premium European Style Butter for supporting today's show. I've been using Plugrà Butter ever since my first baking job. My fellow bakers introduced me to Plugrà as the butter to use and the one with the best flavor. It was also the butter that they used at home, which says a lot. Ever since then, I've relied on Plugrà for all of my baking projects, like testing recipes for my cookbooks and my freelance recipe development work and trying the recipes we talk about here on the podcast, everything from chocolate chip cookies, to gullets, pound cake, hand pies, choux pastry, and blondies. The pastry chefs and bakers I interview all agree and they're the best in the business. Ingredients matter, and a quality butter is key to all of these baked goods. Plugrà Premium European Style Butter is a great choice because it contains 82% butter fat. Also, it's slow churned, making it more pliable and easy to work with. My go-to are the unsalted sticks. I get to control the amount of salt in the recipes, and the sticks are individually wrapped, which makes them easy to measure. If you don't have a scale, no problem. Sticks or solids, salted or unsalted, whichever you prefer, Plugrà Premium European Style Butter is the perfect choice from professional kitchens to your home kitchen. Ask for Plugrà at your favorite grocery store or visit plugrà.com for a store locator and recipes.
Let's check in with today's guest. Sam, so excited to have you on. She's My Cherry Pie, and to talk realistic cakes with you and so much more.
Sam Cade:
I'm so excited to be here. I can talk about cakes all day.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yay. So I had the great pleasure of meeting you in real life when we took She's My Cherry Pie on the road to Dallas, and you made us a cake that looked like an enormous slice of cherry pie, and it was filled with layers of Oreo cake, and it was truly mind-blowing, like both in flavor and appearance, and we are going to talk about how you made it. But before we do, you have said that your cake obsession was born out of a major sweet tooth and that it is your sweet tooth, plus your love of messy arts and crafts projects, that led you to cake decorating. Can you unpack that for us?
Sam Cade:
I feel like I didn't bake any more than anyone else when I was little. I truly didn't, but I was obsessed with arts and crafts. I was obsessed with making a mess. And when you think about it, that's basically cake decorating, plus arts and crafts is custom cakes, so it all makes sense looking back at it. Yes, I love desserts, but I more just love doing anything with my hands and any sort of project.
Jessie Sheehan:
So while you were studying at UT, you studied business, and you started creating, I think, while you were there, these shaped millennial birthday cakes that were typically very alcohol focused. Were those some of the first cakes that you were making either to sell or to share with friends?
Sam Cade:
They really were. I feel like doing cakes at UT it got me over the hump of making cakes for not just your family and friends. There were low expectations among college kids, so I could really experiment and do whatever, and they could be messy, and they could be funny, and people were just happy to have them. I did a lot of yes, alcohol cakes. Just ridiculous. But then also that was when the fast food cakes really started, and I did some Whataburger or burger cakes and chicken fingers, just like pizza cakes, anything like college kids love. So that's really when the realistic cake started.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love that. And when you say alcohol focused, it's not necessarily that the cakes themselves were infused with booze. It's more like the cake was like a beer bottle or something.
Sam Cade:
Exactly. Exactly. And then that was also when I don't know if I can admit this, but that was when icing people was really popular. You would hide a Smirnoff Ice inside the cake. This was 20... I guess, 2013 and so then people cut it, and then you had to drink it. I mean, this is just ridiculous. Like I said, everybody was just excited to have cakes. It was definitely an easy way to experiment and get comfortable doing cakes for people that weren't just my family.
Jessie Sheehan:
Love that. Is it fair to say that, during this period, of time your dessert style was born, and if so, can you describe it? Either what it was like in its infancy, and how you would describe it now?
Sam Cade:
It really is where I started doing the realistic cakes or the shaped cakes, just because I think college kids had crazy ideas. It was kind of like, why not mentality. Like, "Sure, I'll try this," even though I have absolutely no idea how to do it. And I've definitely kept that up my whole career pretty much just, "Why not? I'll figure it out. No big deal." But it's pretty crazy thinking back because realistic cakes weren't really a thing in 2013. It wasn't trendy like it is now. You didn't see them everywhere. It was just kind of like crazy ideas that college kids came up with.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love that. So you got your dream job after pastry school at Momofuku Milk Bar, and you were doing mass production work for Christina and team. And I know you miss doing one-on-one cakes for people like you had done when you were in school. But before you left, and I'm sure there are many things, what are some of the things that Christina and team taught you or what did you take away from Milk Bar besides the fact that Christina is the ultimate rockstar?
Sam Cade:
It was my absolute dream job, and I definitely was obsessed with her love of crunch and textures and cakes. And obviously, the cakes I make now aesthetically look really different from the outside, but a lot of her flavor profiles in combination of techniques and soaks and crunches, I feel like I've maintained and learned from there. Just because the cake looks like a cherry pie on the outside doesn't mean it can't still taste great, and I feel like that was a huge thing to take away.
Jessie Sheehan:
I think your most popular cakes, and also I think your favorites to make are the food cakes. Is that accurate? I think you've done cheeseburgers and sushi boards and oyster platters and meat and cheese spreads and pancakes.
Sam Cade:
That is my favorite to make. I think the juxtaposition of getting an oyster cake that tastes chocolate Oreo is absolutely disgusting, and I think that's perfect. That makes me so excited, and that just really plays with people's mind, not what they're expecting. So I think there's something really funny about the food cakes or a sushi roll that tastes strawberry that's not okay, and that makes it 10 times better.
Jessie Sheehan:
So I was hoping you could tell us about the “Is It Cake?” phenomenon, which was inspired by a popular meme and has led to a TV show of the same name, a show that you were on. Maybe tell us what the phenomenon is. And then, will you tell us about the meme?
Sam Cade:
I guess it really took off during COVID, and it was on the internet, people videoing objects and then videoing slicing them. So it would be like your laptop sliced, and you realize it's cake, your water bottle sliced, and you realized it's cake. I also think everybody was on their phones and super bored at home and just absolutely fascinated by it. So it was pretty funny to me because I'd been doing realistic cakes for a while, but most of mine are from customers, so I don't normally get to cut them.
So people would be like, "Cut your cakes." I'm like, "I don't think the customers would be very happy about that." So it really took off. And then, all of a sudden, the internet was just obsessed with realistic cakes, and the show Netflix was honestly really on top of it. They reached out pretty early on to the trend and got the show set up, and it was just the coolest experience. They picked seven bakers who do realistic cakes, and they got seven completely different personalities, and we all got along great. It was just the best.
Jessie Sheehan:
In terms of what inspires you? I think you've said that you and I totally get this when you're trying to be creative about something, but you don't like to look at other cakes or other food industries because you don't want to be influenced by that. You kind of just want to go out of the box. Is that fair to say?
Sam Cade:
Yeah, no, exactly. I mean, I prefer to look at bakery brands. I love fashion brands. I'm obsessed with bodegas and 7-Eleven and convenience stores, food photography. I like to look at things just off the following exact cake accounts like one step farther. It's fun to look at savory foods. Sometimes, I look at a savory food account, and I'm like, "That needs to be a cake." So I definitely try to do a little bit of horse with blinders on just to keep the creativity, especially now when Instagram just floods your account with what they think you want, and I'm like, "No, I don't actually want to see cakes." I look at cake all day.
Jessie Sheehan:
I read that you also have some questions, in a way, that you ask yourself every day, "How can I make cakes today that'll be different than yesterday's cake, or what trends can I jump on that might be trendy tomorrow, but that I can use today?" It sounds like you're always thinking ahead when you're developing, I guess, so it's not to bore yourself or so it's to keep the process and the product really fresh.
Sam Cade:
Yeah. No, definitely. I'm constantly trying to learn new techniques or try something new, go down a different aisle in Michaels Arts and Crafts, and be like, "How can this work into cakes? Or what can I do differently?" Recently, I've become obsessed with airbrushing, with stencils, and like, "How can I do that on a cake?" It's truly just arts and crafts projects, and you would be amazed at all the different techniques you can play around with.
And also with food cakes. One day, it just hit me, and I was like, "Oh, Oreo crumbs are the perfect pepper, or you grind up sugar cookie, and that's a great texture for golf grass." There's constantly new things to try, and I need to write them down more. I feel like I think of things all the time, use it once, and then forget. But it is. It's just constantly trying to do things different.
Jessie Sheehan:
We'll be right back. Today's episode is presented by California Prunes. I'm a California Prunes fan when it comes to smart snacking and baking. First off, California Prunes are good for your gut, your heart, and even your bones. Prunes contain dietary fiber and other nutrients to support good gut health, potassium to support heart health, and vitamin K, copper, and antioxidants to support healthy bones. And, of course, prunes are a great addition to scones, cakes, and crackers. Anything you are baking that calls for dried fruit, consider California Prunes. Prunes work perfectly in recipes with rich and complex flavors like espresso, olives, and chilies, and they enhance the flavor of warm spices, toffee, caramel, and chocolate. If you love baking swaps and experimenting with natural sweeteners, you can replace some of the sugar in a recipe with California Prune puree. Prune puree is a cinch to make as it's a blend of prunes and water. You can find more details on the California Prunes website, californiaprunes.org. While you're there, be sure to check out all the delicious recipes, including the Salty Snack Chocolate Fudge with Pretzels and California Prunes inspired by the recipe from my cookbook, “Snackable Bakes.” Happy baking and happy snacking.
Kerry Diamond:
Hi everybody, I'm Kerry Diamond, the founder of Cherry Bombe and the editor-in-chief of Cherry Bombe Magazine. If you are looking for the newest issue of Cherry Bombe, be sure to visit one of our amazing stockists. Cherry Bombe is carried by great bookstores, cafes, magazine shops, and culinary boutiques across the country and abroad. Places like Back in the Day Bakery in Savannah, Good Cakes and Bakes in Detroit, and Le Dix-Sept Patisserie in San Francisco. Visit cherrybombe.com for a stockist near you.
Jessie Sheehan:
All right. So now I want to talk about this incredible slice of cherry pie cake that you made for our Dallas event. So first things first sounds like you head over to maybe Google images and find yourself a picture of a slice of cherry pie and then print that up.
Sam Cade:
Yeah, it's as literal as that. Any shaped cake, any sculpted. I seriously just start with a template. Just print out a template. Everybody has the internet. Hopefully, you have a printer, and you can just start from there.
Jessie Sheehan:
And you said you scale up the image so that it would be like the size of the... When you say scale up, you don't mean... Like that cherry pie you made us was huge. Would you scale up an image that's that big?
Sam Cade:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh, wow.
Sam Cade:
Yeah. I get really specific with it. I'll find the picture online, maybe blow it up 200%.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh, wow.
Sam Cade:
Print it out, tape it together, cut it out with scissors, and that's actually what I use to cut out the cake.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love that. I love that. So yeah, then you use the image of the slice of pie. That's what we're...
Sam Cade:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
... what we'll use that as our example as a template, and you cut three layers of cake. Are you baking cake in sheet pans in half-sheet pans, or full-sheet pans?
Sam Cade:
I typically bake all my cake in sheet pans and then just carve out from there or cut out from there. I find it easier, and it always works.
Jessie Sheehan:
So for that cherry pie, that was probably big enough to, what, feed 50 people? 30?
Sam Cade:
I don't know.
Jessie Sheehan:
It was big.
Sam Cade:
Serving slices are so hard to guess. You never know how big of slices people are going to cut.
Jessie Sheehan:
I guess I-
Sam Cade:
Also, I'm convinced I give people way more cake than they asked for.
Jessie Sheehan:
I guess I only ask because I want the listeners to be able to visualize it. It was a really big cake. So is that cake, did that come out of just one-sheet pan or half-sheet pan or full-sheet pan of cake?
Sam Cade:
No, no. I would say that came out of four sheet pans.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh.
Sam Cade:
That was pretty big.
Jessie Sheehan:
And how big are the sheet pans?
Sam Cade:
I do half sheets.
Jessie Sheehan:
Half sheets, which is-
Sam Cade:
Yeah, so it's a half-sheet pan. I want to say that one was probably four. The good thing with when you're cutting out cakes like that, you can always push your scraps together.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah. Christina was telling us how when she makes a three-layer cake, she gets two perfect circles out of her sheet pan, but the third is a mishmash of the scraps.
Sam Cade:
Yeah, I love using scraps. I do the exact same thing.
Jessie Sheehan:
So then you're going to stack the layers. And the layers for this particular cake, I can't remember now, were they just vanilla, or were they Oreo themselves?
Sam Cade:
It's a vanilla bean cake, and then I do like an Oreo swirl.
Jessie Sheehan:
Right.
Sam Cade:
So I set aside some of the batter, the vanilla batter, and just mixing crushed Oreos, and then I swirl that on top.
Jessie Sheehan:
So delicious. So we're going to stack those layers. And then you're going to stack them, in this instance, with Oreo cream cheese filling on the inside and buttercream on the outside. And when you say you're stacking them, are they stacked in a triangular position that looks like pie?
Sam Cade:
Yeah, yeah. So you're-
Jessie Sheehan:
Like a slice of pie.
Sam Cade:
Exactly. So you're cutting out, I want to say it was three pie slices, and you just stack them vertically with your border on the outside and your cream cheese filling on the inside, just like a cake. Right now, you're still at just a cake. It just happens to be a pie shape.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yes.
Sam Cade:
You know.
Jessie Sheehan:
And now you're going to smooth out the icing using something called a Dritzy.
Sam Cade:
Okay. So this, I don't know where I got it, but I use this thing called a Dritz Ezy Hem, and it's actually a ruler used for hemming. It's a big, flat metal rectangle, and I use it to smooth all my cakes.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh.
Sam Cade:
For me, it's like the perfect weight. And then it also has a ruler on it.
Jessie Sheehan:
Almost like a bench scraper except without the ruler.
Sam Cade:
Like a bench scraper, but a little lighter weight and a little bigger.
Jessie Sheehan:
And did you get it at an art supply store, like Michaels?
Sam Cade:
You can get them on Amazon, and then I order them from Joann's. So yeah, I mean, it's used for sewing, but that's what I like to smooth all my cakes with. So before you do any shaping, I keep the shape super simple and just get it smooth. So then you have a clean surface to work on, and you can start sculpting from there.
Jessie Sheehan:
So then you put the cake, after you've smoothed it, in the freezer for 15 minutes, then you use the scraps that are left over to build up a curved top. And so I just wanted to understand. The scraps are sort of what was left over after you cut out those triangles for the pie slice.
Sam Cade:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
What's the curve top? Is that just... So it's not a flat piece of pie so it has a little texture?
Sam Cade:
Exactly. Yeah, and I feel like that's what's fun with these type of cakes is there's no wrong cherry pie, but the picture I was looking at was a little curved, and I had some extra cakes, so I was like, "You know what, we'll add some of it on top and just go from there."
Jessie Sheehan:
Love that. And then you're going to mix additional cake scraps with some of the frosting and press that into... Are they half-inch sphere silicone molds? Half sphere meaning like a half moon.
Sam Cade:
Yes. It was a half of a sphere, so half of a ball. I just had these random molds. This actually was a new technique I just made up that day. But I was like, "You know, I want there to be perfect round cherries. How am I going to get that shaping?" Anything round, it can get a little tricky. So I was like, "You know what, we'll make cake balls, put them in the freezer, and then smush them on the cake so they stay." They're hard, so it stays round, and we can start to add some of that cherry visual.
Jessie Sheehan:
But the shaping of the cake balls came from using the silicone mold.
Sam Cade:
Yes. I want to say those were actually an inch.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Sam Cade:
But you could get those at a restaurant supply store or, I think, mines from Amazon.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love this, and this is just typical in any kind of dessert with a lot of components. You're kind of freezing the cake as you work because it's always going to be easier to work with if it's cold.
Sam Cade:
Exactly. I feel like people underestimate the freezer with cake decorating.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Sam Cade:
Mine's a constant in and out. Even just set it in for five minutes. It'll be easier to work with.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah, I know before we were putting it in. After we'd smoothed the frosting, we put it in the freezer for 15 minutes. At this point, when we put these molds of the cherries into the freezer, is that just a few minutes to set them up?
Sam Cade:
Yeah, I put them in there probably for another 10 minutes.
Jessie Sheehan:
Okay.
Sam Cade:
I think with cake decorating, it's just kind of like a constant in and out of the freezer. You want to work with things cold. I'll work on it and say, "It's getting a little too soft. Let's stick it in for 10 minutes." I kind of don't really have too much of a time with things. It's more just a multitasking. "This cake's a little cold. I'll work on another one."
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah. It's funny because I have no patience. I never crumb coat. I mean, I never make layer cakes. I'm like a sheet cake-snacking cake person from way back. I'm so impatient about a crumb coat. I'm like, "I have to put it in the refrigerator now."
Sam Cade:
I know. I know, but you got to do it.
Jessie Sheehan:
I know.
Sam Cade:
You got to do it.
Jessie Sheehan:
It's true. It's true. Now you have us carving out rounds, but I wasn't sure what we're carving our rounds out from. Are these additional cherries at this point?
Sam Cade:
Okay, so this is when you're really just going off. You're doing your own thing. I was looking at pictures of cherry pies, and they're not completely smooth on the outside, so you want to have some cherries bulging out. It's just me with the serrated knife carving random looking at photos. A trick with shaping, though, is you want to get a small serrated knife, and then you want to use it hot.
Jessie Sheehan:
Mm-hmm.
Sam Cade:
You have your cold cake. I have constant hot water running, and just put your knife under there for a second and then carve, and your cuts are so much cleaner.
Jessie Sheehan:
But after you bake off the cakes in the sheet pan, you freeze them or you chill them before you start working with them.
Sam Cade:
Yes, I do.
Jessie Sheehan:
Ah, interesting.
Sam Cade:
And say you're doing this all in the same day. I would bake them, let the cakes cool, and then stick them in the freezer just for an hour.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yep. And that's going to be easier when you're grabbing the scraps for your cake balls or you're grabbing the scraps to make the top a little bit more rounded. All of that is going to be easier to work with if it's cold.
Sam Cade:
Exactly.
Jessie Sheehan:
Gotcha.
Sam Cade:
Exactly. You want to make it as easy as possible.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yep. Yeah, no, of course. Easy-peasy.
Sam Cade:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
And now you're going to add on those frozen cake balls that you made with the silicone mold and kind of build up your cherry pie texture.
Sam Cade:
Exactly.
Jessie Sheehan:
And then, at this point, we're going to cover the entire thing with buttercream.
Sam Cade:
Mm-hmm.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yes? Okay.
Sam Cade:
Yes. You want the fondant to stick to buttercream.
Jessie Sheehan:
Ah.
Sam Cade:
Not necessarily the cake. That wouldn't be as smooth, and it just wouldn't stick to just cake. You want it to stick to buttercream. But it doesn't... I mean, the cool thing about fondant or a shape, funky shape like this is your buttercream doesn't have to be perfect. You're going to cover it. Once you put the fondant on, you can smooth it with your hands. You kind of mess with it. None of this has to be perfect because a cherry pie isn't perfect.
Jessie Sheehan:
Right.
Sam Cade:
And I feel like that's the best thing to remember about some cakes like this is it's whatever you want. It doesn't have to look a certain way. You can have your inspiration photos, but your interpretation of it can be anything.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love that. And you're going to... you're dusting your work surface with corn starch. I don't... I never have, and I don't plan on working with fondant, but is that what one does?
Sam Cade:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
One does cornstarch as opposed to flour?
Sam Cade:
Yeah. It's just like rolling out a dough.
Jessie Sheehan:
Okay.
Sam Cade:
You want to use cornstarch for sure.
Jessie Sheehan:
How come?
Sam Cade:
I don't even know what the flour would do.
Jessie Sheehan:
Okay.
Sam Cade:
You don't want flour on there. The cornstarch will just disappear a little bit into the fondant, and you don't need a ton. You just slightly sprinkle your surface. But just rolling out a dough is kind of like roll slightly shift, roll slightly move around. That way, it doesn't stick to your work surface.
Jessie Sheehan:
But you're not sprinkling cornstarch on top of the fondant or rubbing it into your rolling pin.
Sam Cade:
You could sprinkle a little bit, but you really don't need that much. If your fondant is a little sticky, yeah, you could use some cornstarch. I use satin ice fondant, and I feel like it's really smooth and really easy to work with. You can find it at Michaels. I think some restaurant supply stores have it. Amazon. I buy mine in 20-pound buckets on webstaurant.com.
Jessie Sheehan:
Amazing.
Sam Cade:
It's pretty easy to find. And I feel like because cake decorating has become more popular, more and more places carry it.
Jessie Sheehan:
You want to roll it out to one-eighth inch thick. Is that hard to do when you're doing pie dough, and it can be tricky, and you're like, "Is this one-eighth? Is it not?" Is fondant sort of an easier ingredient to work with?
Sam Cade:
Yeah. I think it's easier to work with than dough. But also, if this is maybe one of your first times doing fondant, roll it out a little thicker. Make it easy on yourself. You can be like, "I'll try it thinner next time. This one, I feel more comfortable working with it at this thickness. But it's easier for me to pick up, or it's easier for me to move around." One-eighth is my advice. Ideally, you want to get it as thin as possible, but a little thicker isn't going to hurt anybody.
Jessie Sheehan:
And you cover the sides of our pot/cake with the fondant using your hands or fondant tools to mold onto the cake. What are fondant tools?
Sam Cade:
They're like these little silicone handled. They all have different tips to help you mold around. Honestly, there's probably very similar tools for people who work with clay. I honestly have a zillion. I don't even use all of them. But half the time, you can just use your hand. I'm just smoothing the fondant around my cherry bulges.
I think I stuck my finger in a couple of the cherries to have that end. You can't really go wrong. You want your fondant to be firm against the buttercream. That's the only thing. Try to get rid of some air bubbles if there's anything, but you just push it down, really.
Jessie Sheehan:
So this is maybe very controversial, but does the fondant taste good? I won't lie. When I ate the cherry pie you made, I skipped the fondant. I'm not even sure why I did, but I just was dying to get into that Oreo cake. But do you think people are eating the fondant that covers these cakes?
Sam Cade:
My view with it is I don't really care. People can eat it if they want, or they can not. I feel like people are really dramatic about fondant sometimes. You're not going to eat your Snickers wrapper. You don't have to eat the outside if the inside tastes great.
But I feel like a lot of times, you don't even really notice it. I do think people had one fondant cake when they were younger that was like the fondant was an inch and a half thick, and they're forever scarred. When in reality, I feel like if you're eating cake, it's just kind of a sweet, thicker marshmallow.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yum. Whoa.
Sam Cade:
I don't you notice it that much.
Jessie Sheehan:
I'm in love with marshmallow, so that sounds incredible.
Sam Cade:
Yeah, yeah. I don't think it's too bad. I like the visual outside of it so much that I feel like it's worth it.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah. Also, maybe I think you might be right that fondant has a bad name, but actually the product has come so far. And like you said, you're rolling it so thin, it practically meld-
Sam Cade:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
... with the cake. So now you're going to airbrush the sides of the cake with shades of red that look like cherries. And I'm assuming the images that you get off of Google images are in color because you want to, or do you like to have the color just in your imagination, or do you like to match it?
Sam Cade:
No, I like to print out colored photos. Or if it's a burger cake or something, I like to go get that specific burger and have it literally right there because you can say shades of tan or brown or something, but when you have something to physically hold up next to it, makes things 10 times easier.
Jessie Sheehan:
That's so cool.
Sam Cade:
It really does.
Jessie Sheehan:
And airbrush means it's like you see in a movie about car mechanics and they're spraying the car a different color.
Sam Cade:
Yeah. No, actually I have a joke with my friends. It's like, "Bury me with my airbrush." I love this thing so much. I think it's so much fun. But you don't have to have a full airbrush machine. A lot of cake places sell single spray paint things of colors. And you could just get... For this, I would say get a red. Maybe get a purple.
Jessie Sheehan:
What is the machine? What should I picture?
Sam Cade:
It's this little silver air pressure thing with a long cord, and you have a spray paint tip, and you could replace the tip with different widths depending on how finely you want to spray paint, but something that intense really isn't necessary. If you just had a spray, edible, of course, a spray paint can, you could spray the side of this red really easily.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love this. And you also said you could just dye buttercream shades of red to make the sides look... And that would just be literally spreading buttercream on the outside of the fondant.
Sam Cade:
If you wanted to, you could just completely skip covering the fondant and do red buttercream instead.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh.
Sam Cade:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
So you could skip fondant. The thing about the red buttercream, though, it's never going to look as realistic.
Sam Cade:
As realistic.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Sam Cade:
But a trick with buttercream that people don't do is you could spread the red buttercream and then also buy the red airbrush and airbrush a little bit on top of your buttercream, and that'll give it some more depth and a little more detail and people won't... it tricks the eye a little bit more.
Jessie Sheehan:
Do you ever do that? Not use fondant?
Sam Cade:
I don't... I'll do something like that for a kid's cake. I did a smash cake that was an avocado, and I really airbrushed the entire thing. Airbrush buttercream the entire thing.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh, love.
Sam Cade:
Something like that, you don't want to use fondant because you want them to actually be able to smash it.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yep. Just in case listeners don't know, tell us what a smash cake is.
Sam Cade:
Okay. A smash cake is typically for a first birthday. And say you have this big party, and you have a cake for 20 people, but you can get a single-serving little mini cake for the one-year-old that they can just completely destroy and smash their hands into their face into it. It's hilarious to see the photos, but basically the kid can have their complete own cake and do whatever they want with it because sometimes kids don't even know what to do with the cake. They're just staring at it.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Sam Cade:
I don't know.
Jessie Sheehan:
No, it's hilarious.
Sam Cade:
Yeah, so something like that I've always done. Sometimes, I've done shaped cakes, but they're buttercream-based with airbrushing. But yeah, no, it's a fun concept.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yes, totally. So now we're going to use a little extra fondant to kind of build the back crust on the pie slice. And I imagine it's just easier to do that with the fondant than to try to build that out of cake scraps.
Sam Cade:
Yeah, something that thin you just want to mold with fondant. Fondant sticks to fondant with water. So something like this, I would just brush with a paintbrush, a little bit of water on the back, and cut a strip of fondant, and then just kind of mold it with your hands.
If you're looking at a photo of what the back crust looks like, you just kind of go from there. And like I said, you can't really go wrong with this stuff. If you want to say, "This is a crust, then that's a crust." I just wanted to add a little back border just to give it a little more definition and shape.
Jessie Sheehan:
And also, yeah, it just made it so pie like to see that back crust.
Sam Cade:
Yeah. Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
Now, we're going to roll out some more fondant so that we can make our lattice. So again, you're going to use the photo as a template, and you're going to make some crisscross fondant strips that will become our lattice. And this is what you said. We're going to attach the lattice on top of the fondant that's already there, which has already been airbrushed. We're going to cover the already airbrushed fondant with the strips, which will look like a pie that has a lattice crust.
Sam Cade:
Yeah, exactly. So with this, I rolled out the fondant, cut out strips, arranged them in the lattice, and then before I put them on the pie, I airbrush them with just some ivory colors just to look like pie crust. And then I also... any chance I can, I bring out my torch, and so I blow torch some of the lattice just to make it look like a little cooked, a little baked.
It's funny because fondant is sugar, so I feel like people forget that you can blow torch it, and it kind of broils, so it gives it a really cool texture and a really cool effect. So I spray-painted that or airbrushed that ivory, and then I placed the lattice on top of the pie. And I guess that part can be a little stressful, but you got it.
Jessie Sheehan:
I also think that maybe you need to be buried with your blowtorch.
Sam Cade:
Exactly.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Sam Cade:
I use a pretty big one too. I don't use the small pastry one. Mine is a little bit bigger, and I didn't realize it could be a slight hazard until when I did that show in LA. I tried to order one because I was panicked they wouldn't have one. We didn't know what the circumstances were with supplies, and I couldn't get it there. It was illegal.
Jessie Sheehan:
It was considered some kind of weapon.
Sam Cade:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh my God.
Sam Cade:
Yeah, exactly. So I was like, "Oh gosh." Yeah, no, blow torching fondant is one of my favorite tricks.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh my gosh. And it's perfect for trying to make kind of like a bronzed toasted pie crust.
Sam Cade:
Exactly.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Sam Cade:
Exactly.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah. I just remember the contrast between the bright red cherries and the kind of beautiful bronzed brown crust and lattice was so good. And you also say that if you don't want to do the lattice made of fondant, you could also use a wide, flat piping tip and pipe just on buttercream lattice top with ivory.
Sam Cade:
Exactly. Anybody who's scared of fondant, you can always do buttercream.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Sam Cade:
You can get such a crazy range of piping tips where you just look at the tips you can get, and typically, you can find a shape that's about what you're trying to do. I know they have super wide ones that would work perfect for lattice.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah, that's great. Now we're going to airbrush the pie lattice ivory and use the torch to add sort of realistic, almost like toasty little edges to each piece of lattice and then sprinkle with sugar at this point.
Sam Cade:
Yeah, I added... So this was also just me going rogue. I added some sugar crystals on top. I thought it aesthetically looked good. I feel like sometimes I just pick random things. I'm like, "Oh, this adds a nice element." Just thinking any pie crust. I actually couldn't tell you last time I made a pie crust, but just adding texture.
I feel like with fondant cakes, that's half of it is constantly trying to add little tricks to break up the texture so it doesn't just look like a cake covered in one material. So anything like that. I thought the sugar crystals added some nice little, almost like bubbles.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love that. And then, you're going to attach the top lattice using buttercream or piping gel.
Sam Cade:
Yeah. So I don't know if you've ever used piping gel.
Jessie Sheehan:
I haven't.
Sam Cade:
It's like a clear sugar, similar to glucose, a little lighter weight, and it's really good thing to just have on hand if you're making custom cakes. A lot or realistic cakes, you can paint it onto things and make them shiny. It works really well as a glue. I use it a lot with the food cakes because I paint on and it looks shiny or almost wet.
Jessie Sheehan:
Piping gel. Again, something you're just going to find at Michaels or at a restaurant supply-
Sam Cade:
You can find it at Michaels.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Sam Cade:
Their baking aisle has really gotten a lot better since when I started.
Jessie Sheehan:
I got to hang out at Michaels. I never... I think there's one not far from me, where I live, and I never go, but I'm very intrigued.
Sam Cade:
Oh, yeah. There's one on 25th Street in New York or something.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Sam Cade:
Yeah. I used to city bike there.
Jessie Sheehan:
Aww.
Sam Cade:
Yes.
Jessie Sheehan:
And then the piping gel. Do you kind of do it all over the pie? Is that what gives the cake/pie its shininess?
Sam Cade:
Yeah. I ended up... I think I put it in a... I actually put it in a pastry bag, I think, and kind of squirted it all over, and then you can kind of just use a paintbrush and painted it. I'm serious. Cakes like this are more of an arts and crafts project than anything else.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah. Which you love.
Sam Cade:
Which I love. Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
Well, again, the cake was so delicious and so spectacular to look at. I do want to talk about one other thing though that you make, which I'm also obsessed with, though I have not tasted it, which is cake guts.
Sam Cade:
Oh yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
Oh my gosh. Tell us about how cake guts were born.
Sam Cade:
I would say 70% of my cakes are shaped. So you think about it, even when I try to use the scraps in different elements of the cake or even giving to friends, I throw away a lot of cake, which makes me sad. So it started off when I was doing cakes in New York, and I had all these extra scraps. So I started putting them in just the restaurant little quart containers, and people would pick them up from my apartment on their way home from work. And then I started going a little more overboard with them and adding crunch in the middle, adding frostings in the middle, adding cookies.
And I was just giving away these, I call them cake guts, I think just because sometimes you finish a shaped cake and you're looking on your table, and it's just kind of gnarly. There's just cake and frosting and everything, all just in a huge mess on the table. And this sounds disgusting, but then you start drawing them up, and for some reason, guts clicked, and that was the perfect word for it. So it used to just be in the restaurant quart containers, and then they were really becoming a hit, especially right before COVID, so made them look a little prettier and put them in these eight and four-ounce plastic jars.
And then, we actually developed a method of when I bake cakes that are solely used for guts, not just the scraps of my custom cakes. Yeah, it's basically a jar, and it's alternated cake frosting, typically some kind of cookie or crunch or candy nougat something, and it's just kind of alternated layers. They're super easy to eat. And a four-ounce jar is actually the size of a single cupcake. And then, if you get the eight-ounce jar that's like two cupcakes, which I realized later on, after I'd eaten a zillion of them. They're really fun and easy to travel with. You can take a couple bites. You can put it back in your fridge or leave it out, whatever.
Jessie Sheehan:
Can I just say that I'm definitely getting the eight-ounce one, and it sounds just like everything that I love. I don't know. There's something about the squishiness of it, which I know may not sound appealing to everyone. But there's something about just cake, some texturey crunchy bits, some frosting-
Sam Cade:
Oh, yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
... in a jar. I don't even have to worry about taking a fork and not getting crumbs. I'm just like, "I could spoon it out of the container."
Sam Cade:
Exactly. It's so easy to eat. They don't dry out like a cake slice. Would we make them freeze them overnight, then pack them in an insulated mailer with two ice packs, and then you overnight ship, and honestly, they're at your house within 12 hours. It's pretty crazy how fast they can get to you.
Jessie Sheehan:
And they come in a variety of these really unique flavors, which I love, like Cosmic Brownie and Strawberry Pop Tart and Candy Car, Key Lime Pie, Cinnamon Roll. Which is your favorite, and which is the most popular?
Sam Cade:
Well, I feel like with any cake flavors, I will have a favorite, and then I overdo it. I eat too much of it, and then I switch to a different flavor, and that's my new favorite. So I'm constantly changing what my favorite is. But really, my favorite is either the Strawberry Pop Tart because it's a little lighter.
It has sliced strawberries, a homemade shortbread crumble, and pop-tart pieces, obviously. And then my other favorite, which is more of a fall flavor, is this Carrot Caramel. So it's a carrot cake. We've got homemade caramel sauce, a cinnamon cream cheese. And have you ever had those Callebaut Crispearls?
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Sam Cade:
I bet you have.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah.
Sam Cade:
Yeah. So we put the salted caramel ones in there, and they maintain the crunch so well with some toasted pecans. It's really good.
Jessie Sheehan:
That sounds incredible.
Sam Cade:
I'm obsessed with crunch.
Jessie Sheehan:
Yeah, no. I know. But I love that because that's so Christina, to have the mixture of... Yeah.
Sam Cade:
No, exactly.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love that. I also think, could I get the Oreo one, the cake that was in the...
Sam Cade:
Yeah.
Jessie Sheehan:
Does that come in a cake gut?
Sam Cade:
For sure. Any cake flavor that's with the custom cakes you can also get in the gut.
Jessie Sheehan:
Alright.
Sam Cade:
So also, if somebody orders a cake and I realize there's an excessive amount of scraps with it, typically, I'll gut up some extra cake and give it to them with their order. Also, if they want to have some cake before they cut the cake, they can eat a cake up before their party.
Jessie Sheehan:
I love it. Eat a cake up before your party. Well, thank you so much for chatting with me today, Sam. And I just want to say that you are my cherry pie.
Sam Cade:
Thank you. This was so much fun.
Jessie Sheehan:
That's it for today's show. Thank you to Plugrà Premium European Style Butter and California Prunes for their support. Don't forget to subscribe to She's My Cherry Pie on your favorite podcast platform, and tell your baking buddies about us. Be sure to check out our other episodes and get tips and tricks for making the most popular baked goods around from birthday cake to biscuits to blondies. She's My Cherry Pie is a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network and is recorded at CityVox Studio in Manhattan. Our producers are Kerry Diamond and Catherine Baker. Our associate producer is Jenna Sadhu, and our editorial assistant is Londyn Crenshaw. Thank you so much for listening to She's My Cherry Pie and happy baking.